Solar water-heater.



PATENTED AUG. 11, 1908.

P. M. HUNTOON. SOLAR WATER HEATER.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 8, 1907.

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f 15 y J0 i To all whom it may concern.

FRED M. HUNTOON, OF RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA.

SOLAR WATER-HEATER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 11, 1908.

7 Application filed August 8, 1907. Serial No. 387,574.

Be it known that I, FRED M. HUNTooN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Riverside, county of Riverside, State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Solar Water-Heaters, of which the following is a s ecification.

My invention re ates to improvements in that class of solar heaters in which Patent No. 842,788 was granted to me December 21, 1906, and an object thereof is to provide a novel arrangement of the units of the heater whereby the water passing through theunits is heated to a high temperature.

A further object is to provide a novel arrangement of reflectors around the individual units in order to concentrate the heat of the suns rays upon the water passages.

I accomplish these objects by means of the device described herein and illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which Figure 1,'is a sectional'elev'ation of a heater constructed in my im rovedform and composed of three units. ig. 2,is a plan view of one of the units. Fig. 3,is a cross section taken on line 3-3 of-Fig. 2. Fig.

4,-is an'elevation of a ment of units.

In the drawings 5 designates a case composed of a preferably wooden base 6 and glass sides and top 7 and which is preferably held by a support 8 at such an angle as is modified arrangeshown in Fig. 1 so that the case will face the sun during the hottest part of the day. This an le obviously will vary to suit varying latitu es. Case 5 contains a plurality of heating units 9, which I have shown as three in number, although there may be more or less, as individual conditions demand. Inlet pipe 110 enters at the bottom of case 5 and connects with the lowermost unit 9, a pipe 11 leading from this unit to the unit immediately above it, a second pipe 12 connectin the middle unit to the uppermost unit anc discharge pipe 13 leading from the heater to any convenient location. Units 9 are essentially composed of a spherical heating recep tacle 14 for the passage of water and a series of reflectors 15 arranged around the receptacle with a large reflector 16 underneath the receptacle. The receptacle is formed of two sheets of metal 17 and 18 pressed intoa spherical shape and having between them a shallow )assage way 19 into which the inlet and discharge pipes open; The inlet pipe feeds to the lowest point of the receptacle as shown in Fig. 1, and the out-let pipedischarges from the highest point. An annular space 20 is provided near the upper face of the receptacle by an enlargement of sheet 19 at that point and the discharge pipe connects directly to this annular space. The two sheets are secured together by rivets 21 at their outer edges. A double convex lens 22 is supported over the center of the receptacle to concentrate the heat upon a central point of the receptacle as in my' former patent above referred to.

Directly beneath the receptacle is a large reflector 16 preferably formed of polished tin plate, although other materials, suclr as silvered glass, speculum metal or sheet tin may be used. Arranged around'the periphery of reflector 16 is a series of smaller reflectors 15 adapted to concentrate the heat of the suns rays upon the receptacle. By this arrangement of reflectors it will be manifest that the heat of the suns rays will be thrown upon the Water receptacle even when the sun is low in the heavens, as the reflectors furthest from the sun will reflect its rays onto the receptacle.

In Fig. 4 Ihave shown an arrangement of units on the arc of a circle, the water feeding in at both the lowermost units and dischar ing from the central and highest unit. This arrangement is particularly effective as it enables the heater to be placed in'a position so that the sun will lay directly upon some'of the units during t e entire day. By the arrangement of the several units in series as illustrated I am enabled to heat the water passing therethrough to a much higher temperature than is the case where the water passes throughonly one heating unit. This arrangement in. conjunction with the thin sheet of water in the heated passageway enables me to rovide a solar heater of hi h efficiency an of uniform operation. 1e arrangement of reflectors around the heating units renders my heater operative for a long period during each day, as the reflected rays con iguration secured together at their outer edges so as to leave a uniform space between them, means to feed water through said space, a spherical reflector arranged beneath said water receptacle, and a lurality of reflectors arranged around said water receptacle. 7 I

' 2. In a solar heater a plurality of water receptacles arranged on an arc of a circle, reflectors arranged around each of said receptacles, and Water connections between said receptacles so that water may be fed to the lowermost receptacles and discharged from the u permost receptacle.

3. in a solar heater a water receptacle corn rising two metallic sheets of spherical con guratlons secured together at their outer edges, and spherical reflectors arranged around and beneath said receptacle.

' 4. A solar heater comprising a plurality of units arranged one above the other, said units being connected together in series and each of said units comprising two metallic sheets of s herical configuration secured together at t ieir outer-ed es so as to leave a uniform space between them, means to feed water through said space, a spherical reflector arranged beneath said water receptacle, and a plurality of reflectors arranged around said water receptacle.

In witness that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto subscribed my name this 29th day of July, 1907.

FRED M. HUNTOON 

